There are many reasons to find a tree special – its size, shape, age, setting, history, position in the landscape, association with a building. The solitary tree in front of Landmore House has them all. On the road from Aghadowey to Kilrea, following the course of the mighty Lower Bann River, there is a tree […]
Oddities
This is a tiny selection of unusual trees planted in gardens, forest and public parks. There are many more: try Belfast parks, especially the Botanic Gardens.
The Manna Aah
The manna ash has twisty branches with twigs bending downwards, dark smooth bark and a dense canopy of dark green leaves. It is not like a weeping ash (also grown as a graft) which is a form of the common ash Fraxinus excelsior. The manna ash Fraxinus ornus is quite different and bears creamy-white fragrant […]
Newcomers at Saintfield
Saintfield House has a fine old monkey puzzle, one of the earliest planted in Northern Ireland. In an illuminated address presented in 1902 to Major J.N. Blackwood Price (whose family are still there) the monkey puzzle is shown to be a good size even then – it is now about 70’ tall, with a mini […]
Two Fine Parasols at Parkanaur
Parkanaur in Co Tyrone is typical of forests with a house and gardens which include some fine specimen trees of varied species. In the parkland, these fine trees shade the unique herd of white fallow deer, descended from a herd in Co Cork which were a present from Queen Elizabeth I in the sixteenth century. […]
The Gardener’s Pride at Drum
Drum Manor in Co Tyrone repays exploration with fine trees hidden away including a beech avenue and a stand of beech in a shelter belt recorded by Alan Mitchell as some of the tallest in Northern Ireland. Just in front of the gardener’s house is a lovely example of the Tulip tree Liriodendron sp. The […]
Her Ladyship’s Tree
Beside the leisure centre in Bangor is a mulberry tree, an unusual species here where the climate rarely allows it to produce its flavourful deep red berries. This tree was primarily grown for its leaves, which are the food plant for silk-worms. The story is that the Lady of the Manor, the Hamilton family in […]
The Cork Oak
The Cork Oak Quercus suber lives up to its name in its native Spain and Portugal where the bark is harvested to provide corks for wine and other bottles. The specimen at Tollymore, in Co. Down, is carefully protected behind a wooden fence just within the arboretum, perhaps to prevent people helping themselves to a […]